Hector Lombard says he fought injured in UFC 149 loss to Tim Boetsch

After signing with the UFC as one of the most coveted free agents in MMA history, Hector Lombard’s promotional debut fizzled.

At UFC 149 this past month in Calgary, Lombard (31-3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) lost a split decision to Tim Boetsch (16-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC). Lombard was as much as a 4-to-1 favorite in the fight.

On Wednesday, the Cuba-born middleweight said his 25-fight unbeaten streak came to an end as he fought Boetsch while injured.

“I want to let all my fans know I fought (my) last fight injured,” Lombard stated on his Facebook page. “I wasn’t 100 (percent) sure, but I (went) to the doctor. I have a (fractured) sternum with a torn cartilage, I got this (injury) in training for my fight with Tim Boetsch. I have to be out of training for (six) weeks. I should never have fought like that, but I didn’t want to let my fans and the UFC down …”

Lombard vacated his Bellator middleweight title to sign with the UFC earlier this year. There was talk going into his fight with Boetsch that an impressive victory could garner him a quick title shot against UFC champion Anderson Silva.

But after the loss, UFC president Dana White speculated that Lombard’s status in the middleweight division may have been a case of being too highly ranked considering he hadn’t been fighting the UFC’s middleweights.

“It’s the unfortunate thing about hype,” White said “When there’s a lot of hype behind you and you don’t live up to the hype, it goes away real quick. This is one of those things – the guy was on a 25-fight win streak, a lot of people were high on him, people have been talking about him forever. Guys that fight in other organizations end up in Top 10 rankings, and it’s a whole other world over here.”

White also said following UFC 149 he thought Lombard should consider a drop from middleweight to welterweight, but the fighter dismissed that notion the week after the loss.

“I feel strong at 185 (pounds),” he wrote on Twitter. “Just because I had a bad fight does not mean that I am going to drop to 170.”

With what Lombard said Wednesday is a six-week layoff from training due to his injury, seeing him in action again in 2012 may be a long shot. He does not currently have his next fight booked.

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